System for indicating and recording orders



w. H. BELL. SYSTEM FOR INDICATING AND RECORDING ORDERS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 17, 1919.

Patented Aug. 17,1920.

INVENTOR 7 AT 0 NEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. BELL, OF MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 17, 1920;

Application filed December 17, 1919. Serial No. 345,468.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, \VILLIAM H. BELL, a citizen of the United States,and resident of the city of Mount Vernon, in the county of Westchesterand State of New York,have invented a certain new and useful System forIndicating and Recording Orders, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to a system for indieating and recording orders.

A certain class of merchants,such-as milk dealers, grocers, bakers,'icedealers, etc, are required to deliver their goods in the early morninghours, while their customers are still asleep, or are absent for someother reason. Orders for such goods .areusually arranged the eveningbefore; and it has been customary to write ,down the same on slips ofpaper, one of which was placed in one of the empty returned bottles forthe milk dealers attention, and the other slips were left in receptaclesfor the other dealers. Said dealers filled the orders accordingly whilemaking their rounds of delivery, leaving goods at the customerspremises, as stated on the slips found. Considerable discomfort and lossof time was caused to the deliverers of the goods in this way, as theyhad to hunt for the order slips, and particularly to the milk dealerswho had to reach within one ofthe bottles to extractthe slip, sometimescutting their hands in this way, and by the dim light of their lamps hadto decipher the matter on such slips, which matter was often poorlywritten and unintelligible. At times, discrepancies occurred between thecustomers and merchants claims as to goods ordered and delivered, due tomisunderstandings or fraudulent in tention 'on the part of the merchant,his agent, or the customer; thereby causing friction between them, mixedup accounts, and loss of trade, payment of bills, time, etc. Many otherobjections are found at present in the ways of indicating orders andaccounting deliveries in this class of business, but which are thoughttoo numerous to mention. I

The principalobject of my, invention is toprovide a system that willavoid the aforesaid objectionable difficulties and losses.

Another object of my invention is to provide improved means WhereWiththe customer may indicateand record the items of goods andamountsthereof ordered.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a general front elevation ofthe indicating and recording device.

'Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the device shown in Fig. 1. j

A board 1 constituting the frame of the device is provided with a hanger2, wherewith it may be suspended upon any wall at some convenient place,of the customers premises, so as to be accessible to deliverers ofgoods at the early morning hours or in the absence of the customer. Uponthe board 1 is stretched a sheet of printed paper which is held in placeby means of a metal strip 4 hinged at 5to the board andhaving, athumb-screw ,6 that passes therethrough and through the edge of thesheet and threads into the board, whereby upon tightening thethumb-screw 6 it forces the strip l against the sheet and secures it tothe board. Said sheet is perforated at 7 and has printed at either sideof the perforation duplicate columns 8 of items of goods, and preferablyit provided with several sets of printed eohimns, such as an upperduplicate pair of columns 9 for the dairy merchant, as shown, and alower pair of columns 10 for the baker. If desired, any additionalnumber of similar columns may be provided upon the same sheet toindicate orders for grocers, ice

dealers, etc, while only the upper right hand column 9 is here showncompletely lined and lettered it will be obvious that the left handcolumn 9 is precisely similar thereto and the lower columns 10 arelikewise duplicates and lined and lettered suitably for bakers orders,but for convenience and clearness of illustration the indication ofcomplete printing of all the columns has been omitted. The upper columns9 are separated from the lower columns 10 by a perforated line 11.Midway between the columns 8 is located a vertical bar 12 having a slot13 through which passes a square shank 14: of a horizontal stamp ormarker 14. The Sllitllkll is capped by a button 1.5 between which andthe bar 12 it is surrounded by a coiled spring 16, Fig. 2, that normallybears against said button and bar and draws the stamp 14 toward the bar12 and thereby maintains said stamp and the parts connectedthereto inplace upon said bar while at the same time rendering it verticallyslidable along the'bar 12. Upon pressing the button 15 toward the bar 12it causes the stamp 14 to bear against the sheet and mark thereon animpression or a heavy line 17 that extends horizontally from one-columnto the other. The bar 12 is maintained in place by means'of horizontalrods 18, secured to the board 1 as shown, that pass through itsextremities 19, whereby the bar is slidable horizontally along said rodsand may be therefore shifted toward the left away from its operativeposition between the column items when not in use, so as to leave thisspace with the markings 17 entirely clear and unobstructed. When the bar12 is in the operative position shown it may be pressed toward theextremities 20 of the rods 19 and in this manner alined in thisposition. The sheet 3 and the several above mentioned parts thatcooperate therewith are all inclosed by a cover 21 that comprises aframe 22 in which is mounted a glass frame 23. Said cover is hinged tothe board 1 at 24 and may be locked to the cover at 25 against beingopened about its hinges.

. WVhen it is desired to indicate the orders for the following day, asheet 3 bearing the date 26 of'such day is inserted and secured in placeas shown, and then the stamp 14 may be slid along the bar. 12 andpressed against the sheet to therewith mark out lines 17 opposite theduplicate items indicating the quantity and kind of goods required. Thebar 12 may be then shifted aside to clear the space between the columns,and the cover 21 may be locked to the board 1 at 25. vl/Vhen thedeliverer, which we will assume to be the dairyman, arrives thefollowing morning he reads the orders indi- 40 cated by the heavystamped lines 17 and fills the order accordingly by leaving such goodsat the place. He then grasps the edge 2i" of the? sheet 3 whichprotrudes through the cover 21 and tears away the right hand sec tion ofthe sheet 3 which bears the printing and marked orders of his deliveredgoods, leaving an exact marked duplicate of the same order locked withinthe casing cover 21; When the baker comes along he may carry out thevery same operations and tear out his duplicate of the recorded order,and if there are sections provided upon the sheet for other mechantsdeliveries they may do the same thing, these operations being repeatedday by day. At the end of the month, therefore,both the customer and themerchant gather up their respective daily duplicates of the orders andcalculate precisely the status of the transactions between them, and asthe duplicates in their respective hands are boundto conform therecannot arise'any differences or disputes about the settlement ofaccruing bills, it being evident that because of the locking up of thesheet and entire device'with the cover 21 the record cannot in any waybe tampered with by the deliverer to produce a false entry upon thesheet. All frauds and irregulari ties of charges are thereby preventedand friction between customers and merchants precluded. Should the stamp1t require inking the same may be replenished by pressing it against anink-pad 28 located in arecess 29 of the board 1. A rack or stand 31 ispreferably fixed to board 1, whereon may be left all empty bottles,jars, and receptacles to be returned to the dealer, so that same may befound readily when he makes deliveries. A knife 30 fixed to theunderside of frame 22 bears upon the perforation-line 11 of the sheetand thereby facilitates the severing of each individual section of thesheet by the deliverer when he draws it at its edge 27.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention.

Having described my invention. 1 claim:

1. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, guiding means on said frame for sliding said bar therealonghorizontally. means to station said bar at a position between saidcolumns, a marking device mounted upon said bar to slide vertimlllytherealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in saidcolumns, a device on said frame for inking said marking devicetherewith, a transparent cover inelosing said sheet, and said sheetprotruding beyond said cover and being perforated whereby one of saidsections may be removed and the other left in secured state.

2. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to reeeive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, guiding means on said frame for sliding said bar therealonghorizontally, means to station said bar at a position between saidcolumns, a marking device mounted upon said bar to slide verticallytherealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in saidcolumns. a device on said frame for inking said marking devicetherewith, and a transparent cover iiiclosing said sheet.

3. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, guiding means on said frame for sliding said bar therealonghorizontally, means to station said bar at a position between saidcolumns, a marking device mounted upon said bar to slide verticallytherealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in saidcolumns, and a device on said duplicate item columns, and means tosecure said sheet in place, of a bar mounted upon said frame extendingvertically over said sheet, guiding means on said frame for sliding saidbar therealong horizontally, means to station said bar at a positionbetween said columns, and a marking device mounted upon said bar toslide vertically therealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicateitems in said columns.

5. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, and a marking device mounted upon said bar to slide verticallytherealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in saidcolumns.

6. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted. upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, a marking device mounted upon said bar to slide verticallytherealon for therewith marking any pairof duplicate items in saidcolumns, and a device on said frame for inking said markingdevicetherewith.

7. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, a marking device mounted upon said bar to slide verticallytherealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in saidcolumns, a device on said frame forinking said marking device therewith,and a transparent cover inclosing said sheet.

8. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, a marking device mounted upon said bar to slide verticallytherealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in saidcolumns, a device on said frame for inking said marking devicetheiewith, a

transparent cover inclosing said sheet, and said sheet protrudingbeyond-said cover and being perforated whereby one of said sections maybe removed and the other left in secured state.

9. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, a marking devlce mounted upon said bar to slide verticallytherealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in saidcolumns, and a transparent cover inclosing said sheet.

10. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, a marking device mounted upon said bar to slide verticallytherealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in saidcolumns, a t 'ansparent cover inclosing said sheet, and said sheetprotruding beyond said cover and being perforated whereby one of saidsections maybe removed and the other left in secured state.

11. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, a marking device mounted upon said bar to slide verticallytherealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in saidcolumns, and said sheet protruding beyond said cover and beingperforated whereby one of said sections may be removed and the otherleft in secured state.

12. A device of the class described having means adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, of a marking device mountedbetween said columns and adapted to move between and along said columnsfor therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in said columns.

13. A device of the class described having a frame adapted to receive asheet carrying duplicate item columns, and means to secure said sheet inplace, of a bar mounted upon said frame extending vertically over saidsheet, a marking device mounted upon said bar to slide verticallytherealong for therewith marking any pair of duplicate items in saidcolumns, said sheet protruding beyond said cover and being perforatedwhereby one of said sections may be removed and the other left insecured state, and means cooperating with the perforations of said sheetto facilitate the severance of said sections.

Signed at the city of New York, in the county of Bronx, and State of NewYork, this 15th day of December, D. 1919.

WILLIAM H. BELL.

